Improvement in bee-hives



9.) w. w. nonseN e .1. e. BRAY.

improvement in Bee Hives.

ff. Patented Dec. 19, 1871-.

Fey/e.,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

WRILEY W. DODSON AND JOHN` B. BRAY, OF LYNNVILLE, TENNESSEE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BEE-HIVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,999, dated December 19, 1871.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WRILEY W. DoDsoN and JOHN B. BRAY, of Lynnville, in the county of Giles and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bee-Hives; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specication.

The object of this invention is to simplify the construction of bee-hives, and while adapting them to the habits ofthe honey-bee, and rendering them convenient for the mana-gement of the bee-s, to greatly reduce the cost in both labor and material; and our invention consists in the improvement of bee-hives, as hereinafter fully described and subsequently pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l represents a vertical section of the hive taken on the line .fr a' of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section ofFig. 1 taken on the line y y.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A is the hive, made of suitable size and form, with its front B hinged to the bottom, so that it will turn down to a horizontal position and expose the honey-frames and allow them to be withdrawn. When the hive is closed the front is fastened up by hooks C, one upon each side, as seen in the drawing. B is the platform for the bee-entrance, attached to and supported by the bars E E on the projecting ends F F of the frame bottom and by the lugs G, seen in dotted lines in Fig. l. These bars E E, it will be seen, act

as levers upon the sides of the hive. By raising the platform it is readily removed. It is necessary to remove this platform to let down the front. Within the hive is a lower set of brooding-frames, H, and an upper set of surplus honeyframes, I. These frames are connected with a bottom board7 J and a back, K, by means of hooks L and wire stops m, so that all the frames may be withdrawn simultaneously, or any twothat is, an upper and a lower frameat any time, or an upper without the lower frame. The back uprights of the lower frame extend up and support the upper frames by pins n. The upper frames are also supported by pins o o in their bottoms on the tops of the lower frames, as seen in Fig. l. The frames, upper and lower, are thus arranged in pairs, and will swing either to the right or left and separate sufficiently to allow of a thorough inspection. The projecting ends F F of the bottom board J are let into the sides of the hive, as seen at P, so as to be flush with the edges ofthe sides. q is a sliding shutter for the bee-entrance. B is a ventilator in the back of the hive provided with a sliding shutter.

This hive is very simple in all its parts, and may be constructed at slight expense by any one acquainted with the use ofjoiners tools.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The lever-platform D E applied to a bee-hive, as and for the purpose specified.

WRILEY W. DODSON. JOHN B. BRAY.

Witnesses W. W. GORDON, SAML. F. EVANS. 

